It takes character to sacrifice

Matthew 20:17-19 (NLT)

17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him. 18 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. 19 Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

A prediction of Christ's approaching sufferings. He took the twelve disciples apart in the way. This was one of those things which were told to them in darkness, but which they were afterward to speak in the light, ch. 10:27. His secret was with them, as his friends, and this particularly. It was a hard saying, and, if any could bear it, they could. They would be more immediately exposed to peril with him, and therefore it was requisite that they should know of it, that, being fore-warned, they might be fore-armed. It was not fit to be spoken publicly as yet. This is the third time that Christ gave his disciples notice of his approaching sufferings; he was not going up to Jerusalem to celebrate the passover, and to offer up himself the great Passover; both must be done at Jerusalem: there the passover must be kept (Deu. 12:5), and there a prophet must perish, because there the great Sanhedrim sat, who were judges in that case, Lu. 13:33. [quotations from Matthew Henry’s Commentary]

There are times when things should be said in private and this was one of those times. Jesus did not want others to know of him impending death. His disciples, however, deserved to hear the truth.

These verses give us the basis for a gospel presentation. Jesus who was innocent was to be betrayed and taken by the religions leadership. Jesus was then turned over to the Romans by this same religious leadership where he was flogged, tortured and crucified until death. Jesus also told them that on the third day he would be raised from the dead. Christ defeats sin and He defeats death so that we can have an eternal life with Him in heaven through faith in Christ, knowing we are sinners and are in need of His redemption.

Jesus Christ gave us the ultimate model of masculine love.  Jesus sacrificed himself for others. It doesn't take any special ability to live a self-centered life; but it takes character to sacrifice.

Jesus was punished because of us

Isaiah 53:3-4 (NLT)

3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!

The prophet, in the close of the former chapter, had foreseen and foretold the kind reception which the gospel of Christ should find among the Gentiles, that nations and their kings should bid it welcome, that those who had not seen him should believe in him; and though they had not any prophecies among them of gospel grace, which might raise their expectations, and dispose them to entertain it, yet upon the first notice of it they should give it its due weight and consideration. Now here he foretels, with wonder, the unbelief of the Jews, notwithstanding the previous notices they had of the coming of the Messiah in the Old Testament and the opportunity they had of being personally acquainted with him. [Matthew Henry Commentary]

In May 2009, my family was in Azusa, California, because one of our kids was graduating from Azusa Pacific University. My wife, Nancy, was going to speak at the commencement ceremonies, so she and I were invited to a special gathering of about 50 people—people from the graduating class of 50 years ago and a few faculty members. During the gathering, John Wallace, the president of APU, brought out three students who were graduating that year and told us that for the next two years, they were going to serve the poorest of the poor in India.

These three students thought they were there just to be commissioned and sent out with a blessing—which they were. But then something happened that they did not know was coming. John turned to them and said, "I have a piece of news for you. There's somebody you do not know—an anonymous donor—who is so moved by what you're doing that he has given a gift to this university in your name, on your behalf."

John turned to the first student and said, "You are forgiven your debt of $105,000." The kid immediately starts to cry. John turns to the next student: "You're forgiven your debt of $70,000." He then turns to the third student: "You are forgiven your debt of $130,000." All three students had no idea this was coming. They were just ambushed by grace—blown away that somebody they don't even know would pay their debt. The whole room was in tears. [John Ortberg, in the sermon "Patch 'Em," Menlo Park Presbyterian, Menlo Park, California (preached 5-17-09)]

Isaiah tells us “Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!” Innocent, Jesus carried to the cross the sins that we, the guilty, committed. And there at the cross Jesus died with those sins so that we would have mercy and grace from those sins. Fortunately the story doesn’t stop there for Christ rose back to life, a beautiful eternal life that we can all inherit by a willingness to turn from our sin and placing our lives and our faith in Christ; who will welcome us into heaven when we leave this earthly realm. 

The loss of self control

Proverbs 25:28 (NLT)

28 A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.

The good character of a wise and virtuous man implied. He is one that has rule over his own spirit; he maintains the government of himself, and of his own appetites and passions, and does not suffer them to rebel against reason and conscience. He has the rule of his own thoughts, his desires, his inclinations, his resentments, and keeps them all in good order. [Matthew Henry Commentary]

Before serving as a Methodist minister from 2000 to 2010 near Nashville, Tennessee, John M. Eades spent two decades as a therapist counseling drug and alcohol addicts. But his professional expertise did not prevent his descent into compulsive gambling.

His downfall began when some friends pestered him into accompanying them to a casino. Although Eades had never been a gambler, the urge to play the slot machines that was sparked that night escalated into daily casino visits.

"I went every afternoon after work and stayed until late, and I'd go every weekend," recalls Eades, 68. Missing church was no concern. At the time, Eades only attended sporadically.

Within two years, he had maxed out 17 credit cards and amassed $245,000 in gambling debts. One night, driving home from the casino, Eades decided to kill himself. He pulled over at a rest stop and reached into the glove compartment for his .357 Magnum. The gun was gone. Upon reaching home, Eades hugged his wife, Karen, and thanked her for saving his life by hiding the weapon. But he was in for another surprise.

"I didn't take the gun to save your life," Karen told him. "I sold it so we could pay the electric bill."

Soon, the economic strain became too much for Karen. She swallowed an entire bottle of pills in front of her husband. After getting his wife's stomach pumped at a hospital, Eades tried to escape his own depression by going off to gamble.

Later, in a drastic step to remove temptation, Eades moved to a Tennessee town 300 miles away from the nearest casino. He agreed to Karen's request that they attend church regularly. Yet Eades secretly started stashing money in his car trunk for a planned trip to a Mississippi casino.

Another suicide attempt, this time by his 27-year-old daughter, Ginger, over a failed relationship, finally prompted Eades to change …. He opened his car trunk and gave the $600 he had saved for gambling to his wife.

Today Eades is in recovery and marvels at the power the addiction had over his life. "When you're in an addiction and you look back, it's just like you were an insane person," says Eades …. "You cannot believe the things you did."

Eades says there can be no removal of addictive desires or recovery without God's intervention. He also credits Karen, his wife of 48 years.

"When you're [an addict] you really want people to leave you alone so you can feel sorry for yourself and keep [up your addiction]," Eades says. "It's very important to have [someone] who loves you enough to stay with you through it." [John W. Kennedy, "Entering Ministry After Addiction," Leadership Journal (Spring 2011)]

Rest in Jesus

Matthew 11:28 (NLT)

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

This is an invitation from Christ that all those who are tired from heavy burdens, weariness, hardship of ceremonial laws, and arduous traditions are to come to Christ so He can set His church free from the yokes of labor that have been placed on them. Christ wants to introduce them to an easier way that takes away the shame and guilt and instead invites them to rest.

I called him Two-Phone Joe. The first time I met him, I was sitting at an outdoor table at my favorite coffee spot. He came out, cell phone pressed between shoulder and ear, talking a blue streak. He had a cup of coffee in one hand, a Coke in the other, and another phone on his belt. When he put his cup down to hang up, I said, "Man, you've got to relax a little!" And that's how my friendship got started with one of the most hyper guys I've ever known.

Joe and I talked often. Actually, Joe ranted and raved, and I mostly listened. Once, I was sitting at an inside table and he came in, assaulting his phone as usual. He talked, loud and angry, the whole time he ordered and then, after he sat down, he kept arguing for the whole coffee shop to hear. When he finally got off the phone, I said, "Joe, come here."

"What?" he barked, guardedly.

"Sit down here," I repeated.

"Why?" he asked, but he sat down.

"Joe, I don't know if anyone has ever done this for you before, but I am going to pray for you right now." Joe's eyes got big, and he looked at me like I was crazy. Before he could run, I just put my hand on his arm and quietly prayed for a few seconds, asking God to quiet Joe and to give him peace.

"Thank you," Joe said softly, and I wondered if that might have been the first holy moment in Joe's entire tumultuous life. [Lee Eclov, "Christ in a Coffee Shop," Trinity Magazine (Spring 2006), p. 15]

The world calls out to us that we must be perfect, that we must be successful, and that we must work as hard as we can to obtain what we want. Yet Jesus calls out to us and says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. I know there are some of you carrying difficult burdens so let me take a moment to pray for you.

Father, there are those reading these words that have the weight of the world on their shoulders. They are tired, weary and just plain exhausted. They have so many things on their plate they aren’t sure where to turn next. Father let them hear the call of Jesus saying come and I will give you rest. Let them feel Your peace, Your quiet, Your comfort and Your love. Show them the life they need to follow. In Jesus name, Amen.

Listen carefully to words of knowledge

Proverbs 23:12 (NLT)

12 Commit yourself to instruction; listen carefully to words of knowledge.

Here is, 1. A parent instructing his child. He is here brought in persuading him to give his mind to his book, and especially to the scriptures and his catechism, to attend to the words of knowledge, by which he might come to know his duty, and danger, and interest, and not to think it enough to give them the hearing, but to apply his heart to them, to delight in them, and bow his will to the authority of them. The heart is then applied to the instruction when the instruction is applied to the heart. [Matthew Henry]

Many Christians only see bits and pieces of the Bible, lacking a big picture of how the Scriptures hold together. Theology and doctrine provide that larger vision of the entire Bible. In his book The Social Animal, David Brooks illustrates the need for a big picture by using an illustration from the game of chess:

A series of highly skilled players and a series of nonplayers were shown a series of chessboards [with chess pieces] for about five to ten seconds each …. [Later], the grandmasters could remember every piece on every board. The average players could only remember about four or five pieces per board.

Why did the chess grandmasters have such an amazing ability to remember the pieces? They did not have superior IQ's or better memories. Instead, Brooks explains:

The real reason the grandmasters could remember the game boards so well is that after so many years of study, they saw the boards in a different way. When average players saw the boards, they saw a group of individual pieces. When the masters saw the boards, they saw formations. Instead of seeing a bunch of letters on a page, they saw words, paragraphs, and stories …. Expertise is about forming internal connections so that the little pieces of information turn into bigger networked chunks of information. Learning is not merely about accumulating facts. It is internalizing the relationship between pieces of information.

For Christians, theology and doctrine are essential because they provide the big picture so we can read Scripture and see not just "individual pieces" of information. Doctrine also enables us to see "the relationship between the pieces of information." [David Brooks, The Social Animal (Random House, 2011), pp. 88-89]

Thirst for The Lord

1 Peter 2:2-3 (NLT)

2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.

This milk of the word must be sincere, not adulterated by the mixtures of men, who often corrupt the word of God, 2 Co. 2:17. The manner in which they are to desire this sincere milk of the word is stated thus: As new-born babes. He puts them in mind of their regeneration. A new life requires suitable food. They, being newly born, must desire the milk of the word. Infants desire common milk, and their desires towards it are fervent and frequent, arising from an impatient sense of hunger, and accompanied with the best endeavours of which the infant is capable. Such must Christians' desires be for the word of God: and that for this end, that they may grow thereby, that we may improve in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour.

As a child I loved the evenings that the kids in our family would sit by my father's chair while he read us stories aloud. One of our favorites was the poem "The Highwayman." The poem tells of an adventurer who robs the coaches of English aristocrats. The daring highwayman is in love with an innkeeper's daughter, and by night, when the coast is clear, he courts her. The authorities learn of the romance, and one twilight, before the highwayman arrives, British soldiers invade the inn. They tie the innkeeper's daughter at the window so the highwayman will see her and believe the way is safe. Then, lest she try to warn her love in any way, the soldiers gag the maid and tie a musket at her heart that will fire at the slightest movement. The highwayman comes riding.

Unaware of the muskets that wait to cut him down, the highwayman gallops ever closer to his destruction. He sees his love at the window. She hears his horse's hoofs on the lane. The soldiers cock their muskets. Nearer to the arms he loves, nearer to his destruction, the highwayman comes riding. Then, just as he is about to enter musket range, a premature shot rings out warning him to turn back. The highwayman reins and turns as the frustrated soldiers shoot a futile volley. All the muskets fire, but only one found its mark. The one true shot was from the musket that fired the warning—the musket aimed at the heart of the innkeeper's daughter. She warned at the expense of her life, and the warning was the expression of a great love.

The Cross stands both as God's ultimate warning of the consequences of sin, and as the greatest expression of his love for sinners. If God did not love, he would not so graciously warn. The Cross is the fatal cry of a Savior to those he loves to turn from what will do them great harm. [Bryan Chapell, from the sermon "The Judgment of Grace," PreachingToday.com]

Cry out for nourishment from God so that you may understand God’s full love. For Christ gave his life out of love that the arrows of death would miss us.  1 Corinthians 15:54-55 says, “54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

The good fruits

Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

The apostle has spoken previously on those things that corrupt men and here he speaks of the Holy Spirit that produces the good fruits in our lives. “He particularly recommends to us, love, to God especially, and to one another for his sake,-joy, by which may be understood cheerfulness in conversation with our friends, or rather a constant delight in God,-peace, with God and conscience, or a peaceableness of temper and behaviour towards others,-long-suffering, patience to defer anger, and a contentedness to bear injuries,-gentleness, such a sweetness of temper, and especially towards our inferiors, as disposes us to be affable and courteous, and easy to be entreated when any have wronged us,-goodness (kindness, beneficence), which shows itself in a readiness to do good to all as we have opportunity,-faith, fidelity, justice, and honesty, in what we profess and promise to others,-meekness, wherewith to govern our passions and resentments, so as not to be easily provoked, and, when we are so, to be soon pacified,-and temperance, in meat and drink, and other enjoyments of life, so as not to be excessive and immoderate in the use of them.” [Matthew Henry Commentary]

An article in The Boston Globe claims that our "demand for instant results is seeping into every corner of our lives." The need for instant gratification is not new, but our expectation of "instant" has become faster. The article states:

Retailers are jumping into same-day delivery services. Smartphone apps eliminate the wait for a cab, a date, or a table at a hot restaurant. Movies and TV shows begin streaming in seconds. But experts caution that instant gratification comes at a price: It's making us less patient …

We've come to expect things so quickly that researchers found people can't wait more than a few seconds for a video to load. One researcher examined the viewing habits of 6.7 million internet users. How long were subjects willing to be patient? Two seconds. After that they started abandoning the site. After five seconds, the abandonment rate is 25 percent. When you get to 10 seconds, half are gone." The results offer a glimpse into the future. As Internet speeds increase, people will be even less willing to wait for that cute puppy video. The researcher, who spent years developing the study, worries someday people will be too impatient to conduct studies on patience. [Christopher Muther, "Instant gratification is making us perpetually impatient," The Boston Globe (2-2-13)]

God through the Holy Spirit can move us to do good things. Yet when we pursue the things of the world we miss out on what God is trying to teach us. As stated above we become impatient and want things now. In some cases that leads people to perform acts of crime to obtain what they want now.

Let us all take time to listen to the Holy Spirit and look forward to the good fruits in our life.